Four-Minute Mile semi-finals on today

ALL is set for the Coca Cola Four-Minute Mile semifinals at White City Stadium today.

Twenty-eight athletes will take part in the semis where the best 20 runners will proceed to the final to be held at the ZITF Main Arena tomorrow.

Defending champion Elijah Mabhunu said he is ready to defend his title despite an injury he suffered at the beginning of the year.

“I know it won’t be any easy road, but I have been practising a lot and I am now ready to defend my title. However, I am concerned by an injury I suffered while competing in another competition. For now I’m not feeling any pain, but I’m afraid I might experience it in the middle of the race,” Mabhunu said.

He feels his biggest threat will be ZRP’s Trust Chidomaya, whom be believes has the potential to wrestle the title from him.

“Being champion is not easy because everyone wants to beat you and at the same time people will be expecting more from you. There is always that pressure, but I have managed to deal with that through hard work. I know there are guys like Trust, who are going to make the race even harder, but I’m prepared for the challenge. Not that I’m looking down on others because the fact that they qualified for the semis means they have the potential to be winners,” said Mabhunu.

Mabhunu won last year’s edition after crossing the line in a time of four minutes 14.77 seconds.

He said other runners he will be looking out for include Hwange Colliery Athletics Club’s Phathisa Ngawabi, Dumo Mkhwananzi from Sparrows and Wellington Varevi from Amen Academy.